IRS Q2 2010: Top 10 Language Dailies

Almost all the top language dailies in the country register growth. No change in positions.

Rajat Arora | Delhi | August 27, 2010

Kerala's No.1 daily 'Malayala Manorama' is the most read newspaper of India among language dailies too. 'Malayala Manorama' has maintained its leadership with a growth of 2.7% by adding 2.6 lakh readers in Q2 2010. Its current AIR has reached up to 98.41 lakh as compared to 95.83 lakh in the previous quarter.

The largest read Marathi daily 'Lokmat' is the second largest read language daily in the country. In the second quarter of IRS 2010, Lokmat has added 41,000 readers. It has recorded an AIR of 74.02 lakh in current survey as compared to 73.61 lakh in the last quarter.

At No. 3 is Tamil daily 'Daily Thanthi' which has also registered growth by adding 49,000 readers. Its current AIR has reached up to 74.02 lakh as compared to 73.53 lakh in the last quarter.

Another Malayalam daily 'Mathrubhumi' holds the 4th spot despite losing 32,000 readers in the current survey. According to the AIR data released for second quarter of IRS 2010, it has recorded readership of 65.66 lakh as compared to 66.98 lakh in the last survey.

Mathrubhumi is closely followed by Bangla daily 'Anand Bazar Patrika' which has recorded a marginal growth in this quarter and added 7,000 readers. Its current AIR stands at 65.39 lakh as compared to 65.32 lakh in IRS Q1 2010.

Telugu daily 'Eenadu' is India's No.6 language daily which has added 2.11 lakh readers in the second quarter of IRS 2010. Its current AIR stands at 61.54 lakh as compared to 59.43 lakh in last survey.

Gujrati daily 'Gujrat Samachar' has maintained status quo in its position and readership. 7^th among  country's language dailies, 'Gujrat Samachar' has recorded and AIR of 52.18 lakh in IRS Q2 2010.

Another Tamil daily 'Dinakaran' holds the 8^th spot among top language dailies in India. After a slight decline in the readership in second quarter of IRS 2010, its AIR stands at 50.41 lakh as compared to 51.49 lakh in previous quarter.

Telugu daily 'Sakshi' holds the 9^th position firmly by adding 74,000 readers in this quarter. Its current AIR stands at 46.38 lakh as compared to 45.64 lakh in the last survey.

At No.10 is Marathi daily 'Daily Sakal' which has registered excellent growth and added 1.1 lakh readers in the second quarter of IRS 2010. Its current AIR stands at 42.02 lakh as compared to 40.92 lakh in the previous quarter.

Average Issue Readership (AIR) of a publication is defined as the number of readers of that publication who have claimed to have last read it within periodicity – i.e. last read a daily yesterday, a weekly within the last week, a monthly within the last month, etc.

This measure is considered to be a more relevant measure of 'real' or 'regular' readership, especially for newspapers, most of which have been read / 'consumed' as matter of daily habit. Conventionally, media planners even calculate & compare cost-benefits of dailies based on the AIR figure. And hence it is perhaps most relevant to study readership trends as well in terms of AIR.

Rajat.Arora@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com